


A Day Off.

by aphn_un



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Body Horror, Internal Conflict, Internal Monologue, Kray is emotionally stunted and Galo feels too much, Kray kills a guy off screen, Kray's literally just been elected and Galo's a damn barista, Kray's promare hurts him when he uses it and it turns out he's not the only one, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV First Person, Picnics, Pre-Canon, Psychological Horror, Slight fluff, brief mentions of politics, but Kray is too much of an edgelord for that obviously, s l i g h t, that's how pre canon this is, the usual, there's a real want and a need to try and fix things between them, use of british terminology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:09:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27616054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphn_un/pseuds/aphn_un
Summary: This boy really meant no harm to neither man nor beast. If anyone deserved blame, it was almost certainly me.Or.Kray and Galo try to reconnect, twelve years after the 'accident.'
Relationships: Kray Foresight/Galo Thymos
Kudos: 7





	A Day Off.

Of the very few days off I had as a newly elected Governor, I ended up surrendering most of them to Galo.

However, to say that this was an annoyance would not have been a true statement at all. At least, it wasn’t enough of an annoyance to warrant me cutting my time with the boy short, or telling him to find some other way to occupy his time. Ever since our reunion at a charity dinner the previous month, he had been keen to get to know me a little more, apparently he felt that twelve years on from our first meeting was more than enough time for the wounds to have healed. So we had been meeting up whenever I had the spare time, and so far – apart from my initial discomfort about spending time with the boy whose life I had apparently ruined, the experience hadn’t been as terrible as I had feared.

Today, he had insisted on visiting the great, icy lake that rested just outside of the metropolis, much to my chagrin, I really would have rather frozen _myself_ in the ice rather than step foot onto it, but thankfully, Galo had found us a spot in the woody area surrounding it, rather than actually on it.

The lake was a haven to Galo, a place where he could go when he sought stability and calm. Though the wretched place was the complete opposite to me, knowing that it had become a comfort to _someone_ was enough to take the edge off. It was enough for me to bear sitting by it at any rate. Galo had suggested that we bring food and drinks for our meet up, like a sort of makeshift picnic.

Harmless.

I took my car, he brought his motorcycle, and the pair of us simply sat and talked, all while the noises of the surrounding forest crept in to fill the silence between our voices, which I appreciated.

Not that I had much time to listen to the gentle creak of branches or the wind rattling through the leaves, for Galo – I had found – took every opportunity he could to _talk._

It was extraordinary, listening to him go on. His voice and his sloppy, carefree manner of speaking was one I hadn’t been exposed to in quite some time. It was almost refreshing in a way, to talk with someone who simply said what he liked, unhampered by the need to sound professional, untroubled by the nagging worry of how people would interpret your words, or the nasty, unnerving feeling of a pair of eyes resting upon your back, or neck.

No, Galo didn’t care. He was _passionate_ and that was enough to keep him going, enough for him to cancel out the worry of what people would think of him. He was just glad - _so_ glad – that he had the opportunity to gush about the things he loved to the man he admired, and really I owed that to him. I owed it to him to sit and listen, didn’t I? I was almost obligated to spend time with him and try to find within me some relief, some _solace_ that somehow, what I had done to him hadn’t tarnished him forever, that my weakness hadn’t skewed his worldview irreversibly. 

“You’re real quiet, Gov!” Galo piped up, grinning widely enough for me to see a fleck of… Seasoning of some description, sticking out from between his front teeth. “I’m not boring you, am I?”

“On the contrary.” I assured him, reaching across the blanket to refill my bowl with the stew he had brought. “Sometimes there just isn’t anything of value to add to the conversation. Despite all of those rallies and those town hall events you saw me attend throughout the election, I’m actually no great shakes at conversation. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you any.”

I gestured to my mouth. “You – ah – you have something, by the way, right there between your teeth.

“Ach! _Sheesh…”_

That pattern continued on for quite some time, pausing to eat or drink before lapsing back into our unspoken roles. Galo as the eccentric host, talking away to his heart’s content, and me, his silent but captive audience, listening as he careered through topic after topic with no pattern, as if someone were flicking through television channels with no pause for thought. 

But that was fine, I could think enough for the both of us.

Throughout these last few weeks, I had been in a constant state of surprise at myself. That I wanted to spend time with this boy at all was cause enough for concern, but the fact that I had, on occasion, found myself actually looking forward to our days together was… _Unfathomable_ to me.

After months of careful planning, campaigning and laying out what went on in my mind as plainly as I could to the people of this tiny, isolated metropolis, when it came to my relationship - _no_ \- my interactions with Galo, I couldn’t even _begin_ to organise my mind.

Galo, unbeknownst to him, represented many, many things to me. He was a failure of mine, my first and my _greatest_ failure. He was a living, breathing manifestation of my inability to control the mutation simmering beneath my skin. He was a deeply unpleasant reminder of the life I could’ve lost had the truth about me ever come out, he was – in short – the foundations of the person I was today.

Without the publicity that terrible night had brought about, a Burnish such as me would have been detained, perhaps even killed.

As Galo finally paused to drink down the rest of his broth, my thoughts seized the chance to surface a little more, though I strived to carry on without a flinch in my composure. In the grand scheme of things, I actually owed Galo a great deal, and yet I also found myself constantly looking for a face to blame. It may well have just been human nature to constantly seek out a scapegoat, but as I watched Galo scrabble about – ignoring the napkins and instead, using the corner of our picnic blanket to wipe his mouth – I found myself feeling a little guilty for seeing him in that light.

This boy really meant no harm to neither man nor beast. If anyone deserved blame, it was almost certainly me.

Galo was looking at me inquisitively, his legs crossed and his hands splayed out behind him. It was as if he could see right through me, a baseless and paranoid thought, but that didn’t stop it from taking hold of me.

“You okay, Gov? You’re not thinkin’ about work, are you? It’s your day off!”

If only. Work was a cake walk compared to the mess I could make of myself if I thought too hard on the true and painful nature of our… Well, I _suppose_ it was a relationship.

“My mind does tend to wander sometimes,” I laughed, pushing back an annoying curl that was forever springing forward into my eyes, “I’m sorry, I’m sure you were expecting a far better –

“N-Nah, nah I wasn’t expecting anything from you.”

I paused, a tad annoyed, feeling rather like I was back in one of the debates during my campaign. But Galo – of course – wasn’t finished.

“If I’m being real honest with you, I’m really not expecting nothing,” he continued, “I’m just happy that we’re spending more time together, Kray.”

I frowned, my name sounded _strange_ coming out of his mouth. Not unpleasant, but informal. Too informal.

I sighed, how honest could I afford to be? How much could I admit to this boy without completely exposing myself? 

Something _hot_ suddenly throbbed behind my eyes, pushing forward, reaching out.

Vulnerability had no place here.

“I’m surprised to hear you say that.” I told him, setting my used bowl and cutlery aside into the picnic basket. “I admit, when you first sought me out at that charity dinner, I really did think it would be a one-off reunion.”

Galo’s face wore a strange expression, one halfway between confusion and hurt, but there was something else there too, something deep and _raw_ that I had absolutely no interest in looking into further.

I continued.

“I am, after all – well I must be – a reminder of that awful night. Of the waiting, of the… Ridiculous process they put you through for foster care. After all of that, I would’ve expected you to distance yourself from me.”

There might have been a plea in that, I realised, a thinly veiled request to be left well alone.

“Do you _want_ me to distance myself?” Galo asked, the hurt continuing to sour his expression.

I bit down on my tongue. What kind of a question was that?

“Perhaps… Of course I would prefer it if you and I were on friendly terms, but…”

“That’s a lie.” Galo accused, folding his arms. “This ain’t one-sided, Gov. _You_ came to find me at work a few days after that charity dinner thing, remember? You met my boss, she made you a coffee and you stayed right up until closing, hell, you were still there even after I’d closed up the cash register! How is that distancing?”

“That was more of a courtesy call.” I pointed out stubbornly, annoyed that this delicate matter had divulged into a childish back and forth argument.

“Oh yeah? Well what about this, then?” Galo demanded, gesturing wildly to the lake behind him. “We’re spending time together now, aren’t we? Kray, you’re the _Governor,_ and you’re spending your day off with me? Some coffee shop barista? C’mon.”

“I’m partial to a picnic, and our meetings _really_ aren’t frequent enough for…

I was cut off yet again, but this time words weren’t the culprit. In blatant disregard to the food and cutlery strewn across the blanket, Galo had surged forward, knocking the breath out of my lungs as his arms wound snugly around my shoulders in an unmistakable embrace.

Almost at once, the dormant flames within my body _roared_ into life. They sprung straight to my head, clawing at my skull, threatening to burst out from behind my eyeballs, chattering excitedly about the warm, living body that had just flung itself into my arms. 

I felt the skin round my eyes prickle in warning, one that I heeded immediately. Desperate for something to anchor myself to, I bundled the unfortunate Galo up in my arms, gritting my teeth and _forcing_ those beastly flames **back,** all while Galo held me fast, unaware of the war raging on inside my body.

It _had_ to stay that way. He _had_ to stay unaware.

“I don’t wanna just shut you outta my life, Gov.” Galo was saying, his words sounded muffled, far away. “What happened that night _wasn’t your fault,_ I dunno why you wanna blame yourself for it, but…”

I blinked furiously, my eyelids felt like they were blistered.

“You saved my life, you’re my hero, and I’ve already spent _most of my life_ away from you. You’ve always been in the _background,_ you’ve always been just outta my reach.”

 _”Galo…”_ I warned, still holding onto him for dear life, using every ounce of willpower I had to fight those flames back, concentrating on the faint beating I could feel through the boy’s shirt, a rhythm so close to my own. I made _that_ my anchor, I focused in on that gentle thumping.

“Galo.. That’s how things _should_ be.”

“That’s **baloney!”** Galo cried, his voice echoing across the ice. I heard the trees above us rustle as several birds took flight. “Kray, that’s baloney!”

“It’s _what’s best for you.”_ I hissed, my head swimming.

Galo scoffed. “Sheesh… Says who?”

_Says who…_

My ears were ringing, my eyes were smarting. Galo had relaxed against me, and I against him. His heart still beat, a resolute and strong drumming, and yet, through the calm slowly returning to my mind, I could hear _their_ chattering at the base of my skull, an _urge_ to bring that steady drumming to a halt.

I sighed out in genuine distress. Putting an end to… Whatever we had, whatever was growing, seemed so, so easy. A way out.

“Uhhuh?” Galo prompted gently, loosening his hold, but still remaining close. “That’s what I thought. Look, I know it’s rough, I really didn’t think about how this would impact you, s-suddenly having me back in your life. I guess I kinda winged it, huh? M’sorry, Gov…”

A laugh bubbled up in my throat before I could stop it. 

Apologising. _He_ was apologising?

“You have nothing to be sorry for, boy…” I replied, seeking – for the first time since we had met – to comfort him. “You had an awful, awful start in life, and if spending time with me helps you with… Closure, or whatever it may be…”

I closed my eyes, resigned.

“Then I won’t take that away from you.” _Too._

Galo didn’t reply, but it seemed that he had no need to. The two of us had reached a silent understanding, and for now we were content to be still, content to hold each other, until the sky above us began to darken, and the lateness of the hour occurred to me.

Tentatively, I moved my good hand away, patting Galo’s shoulder to get his attention.

“We should go.”

Galo pulled himself back a little reluctantly, his eyes downcast, his bottom lip held between his teeth. He looked almost bashful, and I didn’t care to think on why.

We packed up our picnic and walked back through the trees to where we had parked. We loaded up the boot of my car in silence, Galo occasionally grew brave enough to meet my eyes, only to promptly look away again. I kept my gaze steady, but my mind was anything but. Everything about this meeting felt… Uneasy, mixed up and surprisingly painful. Only God himself would know just how long it would take for Galo and I to untangle ourselves from our history, especially when one party had yet to know the truth.

Once again, the noises of the woods crept up on us to fill the awkward silence, all rustles and birdsong, and the odd snap of a twig.

Snap…

_Snap!_

“Uhhh… Kray?”

Galo’s voice sounded beside me, tremulous and wavering. He had seen it too, a low and sickeningly familiar light, just visible through the trees alongside us. It was bobbing, moving past thick trunks and through coarse bushes. It was coming towards us.

“Burnish flames…” Galo mumbled, fear ringing through his voice as clearly as a bell.

“Get in the car.” I said without hesitation, shutting the boot with a sharp slam.

“Are you kidding me?” Galo yelped, stepping back to lean against his motorbike. “If I’m getting away on anything, it’s gonna be this! It cost me a damn fortune!’

“Galo, you utter _idio…_

But before I could finish, the culprit behind the flames suddenly lurched out from the trees, and their appearance was enough to shut both of us up.

The figure now stumbling their way towards us looked humanoid, but their shape was the only definitely ‘human’ thing about them. At first glance, their lumbering body appeared to be covered in mud, or some other dark substance, but as they drew closer, I realised with a thrill of horror and nausea, that they had been **charred** from head to toe.

Then the _smell_ hit me, the overpowering stench of burning human flesh. Bile rose up in my throat, only to be met once again by the roaring of my own flames. They billowed up within my body once again, pounding against my skin, against the cooling technology I wore under my clothes. Oh they were _hot,_ hot enough to boil my blood and roast my flesh, but I was protected, I had made sure of it.

This poor soul – whoever they were – didn’t have such a privilege. 

They staggered on, white-hot flames danced around their chest, the heat sizzling as it burrowed its way into their ruined skin. They moaned out in agony as best they could through their destroyed throat, the pain causing them to fall to their knees, scarred and blistered hands scrabbling helplessly at the asphalt.

“Kray?”

Galo’s whimpering somehow broke through to me, broke through the horrified screaming echoing around my cranium, the anguish of the Promare inside me, responding to the sight of one of our own suffering so needlessly.

I turned to Galo, noticing that he had wrenched a hammer from the repair toolbox he carried with him on his motorbike. The poor boy, what exactly did _he_ hope to do? Defend himself?

I spoke, as calmly as I could.

“Give me the hammer, Galo. Once you do, I want you to get on your bike and leave. Go home, call me when you get there if you wish, speak to no one, tell _no one,_ do you understand?”

Galo was opening and closing his mouth, lost for words, his eyes swimming with tears.

“B-But I… I have f… I got first aid somewh – 

“It’s too late for that now.” I said, surprisingly gently, paying no attention to the wheezing and the moaning coming from behind me.

“Go home, Galo, I’ll be quick. I see no reason for this person to suffer any longer. Go, on your bike now.”

Galo appeared to be doing some very quick thinking. If the rumours I had heard about his dream job were true, then this went against his ethos completely. But at the same time, a grisly sight such as this would be all too common should he achieve his dream.

The poor wretch on the ground beneath me cried out suddenly, perhaps for mercy, perhaps for help, it was hard to tell, but it was enough to shake Galo out of his trance. Shivering feverishly, he thrust the hammer into my waiting hand, cast one last, horrified look behind me, and tore off towards his bike, stumbling as he ran.

With the growling of the bike’s engine fading away, I finally turned back to the person on the ground. Just the sight of them lying there was enough to send the cooling tech hugging my body into complete overdrive as my Promare raged. I heard a _hiss_ and a furious popping of ice as it fought to keep the flames at bay, and I clenched my jaw as, for a split second, heat blisters popped up across my remaining arm before being flattened right back down. It stung, it _always_ stung.

The figure beneath me had angled their misshapen head up towards me. Whether they could see or not wasn’t clear, but that didn’t make it any easier for me to look at them.

I realised then, that there had been a point earlier on in the day where I’d had hope.

Galo’s stubbornness to keep me in his life no matter what, to _praise_ me despite the horrid affair that had brought us together, had placated me in a way I had never experienced before.

Was there a _way_ for a person like me to move on? Was there a chance that the deaths of Galo’s parents, and old Professor Prometh would one day not weigh upon my shoulders? Could that really be possible? Would that – somehow – be acceptable?

Galo made me feel as if a future like that was indeed possible.

But Galo wasn’t here now. There was only me, and this unfortunate Burnish, and the heat slowly rising at the centre of the planet.

A future like that just wasn’t possible. Not with the work I had to do.

“I’ll be quick.” I repeated, unsure if I was talking to myself or the Burnish beneath me, and I stepped forward.

-

I had only driven around half a mile away from the lake when I came across Galo.

He had pulled over onto a grassy bank, his motorbike lights still on, his eyes fixed on the horizon, looking out for my car’s headlights.

I heaved a sigh and flicked on the indicator so I could pull over just a few feet away from him. His eyes never left me as I walked towards him, his bottom lip pushed out and wobbling, I didn’t like that look… It reminded me far too much of him as a child.

“I told you to go home.” I said, though there was no real venom in my voice, there wasn’t much of anything in my voice. I was tired…

“I… Didn’t wanna just split n’ leave you with that Burnish.” Galo confessed, wiping away his tears angrily with the heel of his hand. “I thought about goin’ back, but… Then I knew you’d be angry, but I didn’t wanna go any further either, so I just pulled over and…”

“Galo. _Galo,”_ I cut him off, the boy was whipping himself up into hysterics, “it’s fine. Everything is fine.”

Galo’s breath hitched in his throat, and for a horrible moment I thought that he was going to start outright sobbing, but to my relief, he merely slumped where he stood, his arms tightly held around himself. 

“Why did they… I-I mean…” Galo started, apparently searching for the right words to use. “They were… Burnish, right? Why did they… Burn up like that? They’re immune to their fire! O-Or, at least that’s what I always thought…”

I could feel a tell tale, prickly heat creeping up my spine, up and up, threatening to singe the hairs at the back of my neck. Those were all questions that were far, far too close to home, questions that I could not and _would not_ answer. I had made too many mistakes today to even think about making another. 

“I suppose they were a rare case,” I murmured, clenching my good hand inside my coat pocket, “something has… Clearly gone wrong, very wrong. I assure you, I would… Give you the answers if I had them, Galo. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Silence fell between us, one broken only by the distant sounds of cars driving by, and the odd, wet sniff uttered by Galo. I dug my nails into the palm of my hand, willing myself to stay where I was, stay calm, stay composed.

“What do you want to do, Galo?” I asked eventually, unable to stand the silence any longer.

Galo shuffled his feet, pulling the collar of his jacket up around his face against the wind, blowing steadily colder as the night closed in around us, darker and darker, as if Galo and I were the only two people left on earth.

“… I wanna go home.” He said finally, in a voice so small that it was almost lost in the wind. “I don’t wanna be alone, Gov Kray.”

\- 

By the time I had pulled up outside Galo’s little flat, the boy had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, and as the car’s engine rumbled out into silence, I let myself fall forwards, resting my forehead against the cool steering wheel, _finally_ allowing my eyes to slip closed.

I couldn’t very well sleep here, I knew this, but the darkness tugging insistently, sweetly at the corners of my eyes _begged_ me to at least consider ten minutes of shut-eye. I could hear Galo snoring lightly in the seat beside me, and was grateful for the noise, focusing on that was enough to dull the torrent of sound still buzzing beneath my skin. The whispers, the pleas, the _want,_ the _need_ to catch fire, to set the car alight, burn it all, engulf it and Galo whole in those playful, dancing flames, even if it _hurt._

A rare case… My own words came back to me then. 

_Something has gone wrong. Very, very wrong._

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> Me again, I have.. More krgl, hope that's okay.
> 
> I've had the idea that Kray didn't sync up properly with his Promare for a while now, so much so that it actually, physically hurts him to use it, hence why he needs to wear all of that fancy cooling gear I mentioned in the story. But of course because he's... Him, he's able to keep it at bay most of the time, and of course he's able to afford backups should his willpower fail him. Not every Burnish this happens to is so lucky to have that kind of protection, so they just.. Burn.
> 
> I hope the first person POV isn't jarring! You're either going to want to slap Kray or hug him - maybe both - but I can't recall seeing a first person POV Kray fic on here (please correct me if I'm wrong) but my God he's a pain to get the hang of. Really it's all about trying to find that perfect blend, of a man who's quite clearly morally reprehensible, but is also desperately sad at the same time, and don't even get me started on the guilt.
> 
> In any case, I hope this was a fun read! Apologies if the pacing is a little skew whiff.. And of course, any criticism is welcome! Hopefully I did Kray justice, or maybe I've just subjected you to ten pages worth of him whinging. Let me know!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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